Saturday, February 26, 2011

I don't think I need to add anything to what you've already seen or heard. It's a magnificent facility/complex. I mean for crying out loud they have a field just for bunting drills. I'm going to think about that field every time I see a failed bunt attempt during the regular season No excuse for that anymore... not that there ever was a good excuse before.

Rockies bunting

Willy Taveras executed the Rockies lone bunt attempt today. The ball was thrown away down the left field line as Arizona catcher John Hester tried to pick off the lead runner. The Rockies ended up plating four runs in that inning.

Moral: Big innings await you when you execute the little things.

Ubaldo Jimenez

Pitching was fine. Even better was the sight of him signing a ton of autographs after his TV interview. Classy young man.

Jordan Pacheco/Charlie Blackmon

Pacheco had a solid single back through the box in his lone AB. Blackmon ended up playing the role of hero with his HR in the 10th. We're going to hear a lot more from these young men before the spring is over. Very impressive.

Mike Jacobs

He's a strong dude. I'll put the over/under on his home run total at Colorado Springs at 35. Of course that's assuming that's where he ends up.

Cole Garner/Jonathan Herrera

Good days at the plate, and teamed up for a really nice 7-4 putout at second when Tony Abreu tried stretching a single to a double.

Anti-wave commercial

So much win! Actually all of the commercials were full of win. Once again a great job by everyone involved in that process.

Misses

Ian Stewart

Rough afternoon for the Rockies starting 3B. It'll mostly be remembered for his first inning collision with Carlos Gonzalez on a pop foul a little ways down the line. That was definitely a scary moment that saw his knee just miss Cargo's head by mere inches. Add in the one pitch 4-6-3 DP in the second inning and a later strikeout and I guess you could say his performance was as close to disastrous as you can get in February.

Billy Buckner

Not a very smooth inning or impressive debut for Buckner. He's a Triple A roster filler at best.

Adam Jorgenson

You feel bad for a kid when he gets his chance to make an impression and the end result is what we saw today. I doubt he'll get another chance in a big league game this spring.

Foul Tips

Greg Reynolds

Greg's performance doesn't really qualify as a hit or miss, but I just felt the need to comment on him. He made a bad pitch to Kelly Johnson that he was able to extend on and drive to LF. It probably wouldn't be a HR most places, but it's safe to assume it would be a Coors and in Arizona. That's all that counts.

He had another AB in his 2nd inning where he didn't put a batter away after an 0-2 count, but aside from that I was happy with how he looked. He didn't spiral after allowing the HR, which is something we saw in his few ML appearances. Like I said, not really a hit or miss, but worth mentioning.